June 30, 2005

Chesterton's quote is packed with wisdom for today's busy, often inexperienced managers. Implicit in the quote is the message upon which Nike built their tremendously successful shoe campaign -- "Just Do It". Make a decision, take an action, DO SOMETHING...

Much of what I see today across a number of businesses, is an unwillingness to make decsions--and act upon those decisions.

We live in a business culture in which the "decision makers" are often "concensus seekers"--which can be good--if the consensus is acted upon. Many times, the consensus decision gets put on "the back burner", while the organization continues to rally around yesterday's ideas.

Exciting slogans do not equate with decisive actions in the marketplace. Leaders are action-oriented...not falling prey to the illusory safety of "analysis paralysis".

To any mid-level managers reading this post, I would recommend that you read the classic work by Dr. Laurence J. Peter--The Peter Principle. Written in 1969, this tongue-in-cheek evaluation of business still resonates today.

The Peter Principle book has attained such renown that The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "The theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent."

Read it, and you will never look at your company, your colleagues, or your opportunity for advancement in the same way after reading this book.

June 28, 2005

Quote of the Day: "Staging experiences is not about entertaining customers; it's about engaging them." - B. Joseph Pine II The Experience Economy

The June issue of Progressive Grocer contains a survey in which Supermarket Deli managers are asked to their most significant operational challenges. Their top five problem areas, ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 = not serious, and 10 = extremely serious):

Employee training (7.4)

Attracting shoppers (7.1)

Profits (7.0)

Labor Costs (6.9)

Recruiting effective employees (6.6)

This survey emphasizes the importance that well-selected, properly trained employees play in the effective operation of a department within the supermarket.

In a recent Christian Science Monitor article, the value of the well-trained employee is further emphasized...

Consumers appear to be willing to pay for that difference. Price still matters - healthcare, college, and other costs have taken big bites out of many wallets - but it's not as important as it has been.

"There is this other side of a shopper that says it's hard work getting the lowest price every day," says Ms. Corlett. "A surprisingly large minority," 46 percent, of consumers polled by WSL for its recent How America Shops report said that finding the lowest price on goods and groceries was not always a top concern.

The experience often mattered more.

"It's all these added values," she says, "that are forming emotional bonds to shoppers."

Boomers have made shopping with cross-purposes a way of life. For retailers, where you build is as important as what you sell.

June 27, 2005

Quote of the Day: "Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage. - Woody Allen (1935 - )

Allen's quote may bring a smile to our face, particularly if we are among the many who have had to wait...wait...wait...wait for service at their local drug store, supermarket, department store, "fast food" restaurant, dry cleaners, post office, etc.

Anybody besides me feel like you spend "way too much" time waiting? This happened to me while waiting in line at a restaurant recently. The "credit card validator" was validating very slowly on this particular occasion. End result--slow service.

Why is this the case? Do companies intentionally set out to offer poor service? Is this part of some maniacal scheme to drive customers crazy? The answer to these questions, is of course, no and no.

Today's service jobs are often staffed by individuals who are ill-prepared to meet the ever-increasing expectations of today's "option rich" consumer. Often, they are rushed through orientation, given an hour or two of "on the job" training, and then thrown to the proverbial "wolves". They may master one or two tasks, and get by with the rest, but the job is less than enjoyable, and soon becomes drudgery to even the gamest of employees.

Gotta be a better way...starting with:

The selection process

The company culture

The training process (yes, process--not class)

The incentive process

The career path

The mentoring process

We'll talk more about this in future posts, or on our website. Here's hoping you find great service.

June 26, 2005

Quote of the Day: "Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you stop peddling." - Claude Pepper

If you should happen to be out on a leisurely bicycle ride this weekend, take a moment to think about W.K. Clarkson, Pierre Michaux and other transportation pioneers.

Who in the world is W.K. Clarkson, you ask? Clarkson is the American who patented the bicycle (known at the time as a swift-walker) on this day 186 years ago...

It was made of wood, and it had two wheels, handlebars, and a seat. What it did not have were pedals or brakes. Riders used their feet to start and stop, a lot like the way you would use your feet to start and stop a scooter. Soon other people began to produce a myriad of bicycle designs and models that almost defy the imagination. On June 26, 1819, W. K. Clarkson received the first American patent for a "swift-walker."

It wasn't until the 1860's that a more modern version of the bicycle emerged...

Frenchman Pierre Michaux and his son developed the rotating bicycle pedal. Then, by the late 1860s, the first rubber tires were introduced on bicycles. In 1866, Pierre Lallement, with financial help from James Carroll, received the American patent on the pedal velocipede. (The term bicycle came into the English language about 1868.) It seems that gears were introduced in the last quarter of the nineteenth century with the development of the "safety" bike--a bike with gears and a drive chain to help keep it from tipping over when the rider came to a stop or hit something.

June 25, 2005

We talk about "real" a lot...but seldom stop to define what it means. One of my favorite definitions is from the skin horse in the children's classic The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Quote of the Day: “What is REAL?asked the Rabbit one day.Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?Real isn't how you are made, said the Skin Horse.It's a thing that happens to you.When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with but really loves you, then you become real.Does it hurt? asked the Rabbit.Sometimes, said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.Does it happen all at once like being wound up, he asked, or bit by bit?It doesn't happen all at once, said the Skin Horse.You become.It takes a long time.That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints, and very shabby.But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”- Margery Williams, author The Velveteen Rabbit

June 24, 2005

Quote(s) of the Day: "An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Always do what you are afraid to do. Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." - Ralph Waldo Emerson. American Poet, writer (1803 - 1882).

Pursuit of a better mousetrap. One of the main drivers of our economy--keeping consumers and providers busy seeking ways to satisfy their respective wants and needs. For the consumer, this means securing the products and services that promise to make their lives easier and more meaningful . For the provider of goods/services/experiences, this means reaching their customers more often, more effeciently and selling them more of their offerings.

In recent years, this "reaching out" to potential consumers has been done primarily through the use of print, radio and television advertising. A person born in the US in 1940 will have heard enough television ads by 2005, to have spent eight hours a day, 7 days a week in front of the TV without a break for nearly six years.

In 2005, and in the decades to come--formerly successful approaches are destined to become obsolete--due to the growing number of "customized media options", including video, DVRs, etc. available to households today. Currently, users of DVR or Tivo recording devices skip 70% of broadcast commercials.

SO...HOW DOES THE "PROVIDER" REACH THE "CONSUMER"?

P.R., Event Marketing, Direct Mail, Sampling and something I read about this week, called Tryvertising are some of the ways Providers are seeking to reach their increasingly elusive target markets. The following is an excerpt from Trendwatch which explains the concept of Tryvertising:

Mass advertising is dying. Experienced consumers couldn't care less about commercials, ads, banners and other fancy wording and imagery that is forced upon them, so let's move on to more interesting ways of igniting conversations between corporations and consumers. We recently spoke about CUSTOMER MADE and NOUVEAU NICHE as powerful alternatives to archaic marketing thinking, but those concepts don't necessarily introduce consumers to your brand or your new product. Sure, much has already been said about search-based advertising and initiating word of mouth as new (and certainly more relevant) ways to replace mass advertising, but TRENDWATCHING.COM wants to add a third alternative: TRYVERTISING, which is all about consumers becoming familiar with new products by actually trying them out.

Think of TRYVERTISING as a new breed of product placement* in the real world, integrating your goods and services into daily life in a relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not your messages.

June 23, 2005

Quote of the Day: "Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want." - Clive Barnes

The television is a fixture in most American homes. Statisticians tell us that, on average, our fellow citizens watch between six to eight hours of programming content each day.

For a "passive" entertainment medium, the television exercises a great deal of influence on how we view life. Think for a moment about a recent program in which the hero or heroine of the drama was faced with a complex situation--one which they handily solved in 60 minutes (minus commercial time). And how about the "news"? Have you listened to stories about people you don't know, will likely never meet, and found yourself feeling concern or fear as a result? If so, you are not alone. Social scientists tell us that "global news" (often packaged as infortainment) which includes the repetitive broadcasts of unresolved disasters contribute to a phenomena known as "floating anxiety". They also say that there is only one cure...

TURN OFF THE TV AND READ A BOOK--BETTER YET...READ TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE...

June 22, 2005

Quote of the Day: "If you don't like the answer you get the first time...ASK AGAIN!" - Steve Dragoo

Airlines--can't live with 'em...sometimes it seems, we can't live without 'em.

Problem is, in today's "less is more" approach to customer service, we don't always get the responsive, caring treatment that we "frequent travelers" may hope for (and at times, even expect).

I encountered this today during my early morning travels. The gate agent in one of our largest airports informed me that the assigned seat I expected was not available to the "full" status of the flight. I tried to reason with her, but reasoning lost out to a teeming group of impatient customers waiting behind me in line. In other words, her eyes glazed over as she offered up a perfunctory "sorry, I can't do anything for you."

At this point, I could take what was offered, or go for what I had been promised. In the pursuit of an interesting customer service story (not to mention a better seat), I contacted the on-duty supervisor. This person cheerfully and professionally did what I had hoped the other person would have done. I was able to board my flight and sit in my expected seat. To my knowledge, the flight was not interrupted, no one was left behind, or asked to sit on the wing.

Big deal? Not really. But this should not happen in a service/experience dependent business. Particularly not in an industry where service convenience and image can keep a company from entering serious financial difficulties.

I hope the supervisor trains their charges to do what they demonstrated they are capable of doing for their customers.

June 21, 2005

Quote of the Day: "They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers." - Claude Frederic Bastiat (1801 - 1850) French laissez-faire economist.

It's easy to sell cheap. "Pile it high--and watch it fly..." But is the easy way the best way? Is copying the "low price leader" a long-term strategy for success?

Of course, anyone with any business experience who reads this post would offer an emphatic "NO" in answer to both of the questions posed above. Yet in business, we often, for the sake of short-term gains, abandon our core competencies, and at times, our better judgement to match wits and prices with those perceived to be market "spoilers".

Are there better ways to compete? I think so. What are they? Only you can answer that. You know better than anyone else "WHY" your shoppers choose to spend their money with you. Give them MORE OF IT, MORE OFTEN, MORE CONVENIENTLY.

Talk about convenient...look at the photo below to see what a store near an Amish Community did to make "parking" more convenient for their patrons!

June 20, 2005

"Take the long way home." - Supertramp - from the 1979's platinum Breakfast in America album.

I'm usually a "point A to point B" kinda guy. I like to get into work early and get a "jump on the day". I like the express lines at the supermarket. I like to get on and off airplanes as quickly as possible.

But once in a while, I like to take the "long way home"--deliberately driving out of my way...just a bit, to see the farms and fields near our home. I'll even roll down the car windows to take in the sights, sounds and smells around me.

Taking a little extra time now and then is a kind of "mini vacation", providing a sense of well-being, by dropping out of the rat race for a few minutes. It's also a great way to put my head back in the game with a clear sense of who I am and why I am here...